Tag Archives: Missile

Attempted North Korean missile launch fails

KCNA file picture shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watching the ballistic rocket launch drill of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army at an unknown location

By Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea attempted to fire a missile from its east coast on Tuesday but the launch appears to have failed,South Korean officials said, in what would be the latest in a string of unsuccessful ballistic missile tests by the isolated country.

The launch attempt took place at around 5:20 a.m. Seoul time (4.20 p.m. ET), said the officials, who asked not to be identified. They did not elaborate.

Tension in Northeast Asia has been high since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and followed that with a satellite launch and test launches of various missiles.

Japan put its military alert on Monday for a possible North Korean missile launch.

“North Korea shows no sign of abandoning the development of nuclear missiles and so we will continue to work closely with the U.S. and South Korea in response and maintain a close watch,” Japanese Minister of Defence Gen Nakatani told a media briefing.

North Korea appeared to have attempted to launch an intermediate-range Musudan missile, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said.

North Korea attempted three test launches of the Musudan in April, all of which failed, U.S. and South Korean officials have said.

Yonhap quoted a South Korean government source as saying the missile was likely to have exploded at about the time it lifted off from a mobile launcher.

China, North Korea’s only major ally, called for the cessation of any action that would exacerbate tension.

“The situation on the peninsula remains complex and sensitive,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a briefing when asked about the launch.

“We think that all sides should avoid any actions that further worsen tensions.”

China has been angered by North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests and signed up to tough U.N. sanctions against its reclusive neighbor in March.

North Korean state media did not mention any missile launch.

A Pentagon statement said that a failed North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile launch had been detected, but did not pose a threat to North America.

“We strongly condemn North Korea’s missile test in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, which explicitly prohibit North Korea’s use of ballistic missile technology,” the Pentagon statement said.

IN A RUSH?

The North’s flurry of weapons technology tests came in the run-up to the first congress in 36 years of its ruling Workers’ Party this month, where young leader Kim Jong Un consolidated his control.

Tuesday’s launch appears to have been its first missile test since then, and experts said it was unusual to test-fire a missile so soon after a failure.

The South Korean military said the successive tests could stem from Kim’s order in March for further tests of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles.

“They must’ve been in a rush. Maybe Kim Jong Un was very upset about the failures,” said Lee Choon-geun, senior research fellow at South Korea’s state-run Science and Technology Policy Institute.

North Korea has never carried out a successful launch of the Musudan missile, which theoretically has the range to reach any part of Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam.

The North is believed to have up to 30 Musudan missiles, according to South Korean media, which officials said were first deployed in around 2007.

“It could have cracks and something wrong with the welding,” Lee said of possible causes for the latest failure. “But deployment before test-firing these to complete development seems unusual.”

The attempted launch took place near the east coast city of Wonsan, one of the South Korean officials said, the same area where previous Musudan tests had taken place.

Separately, the international department of China’s Communist Party said diplomat Ri Su Yong, one of North Korea’s highest-profile officials, visited China on Tuesday, meeting the department’s head, Song Tao.

The two expressed a desire to increase cooperation between their parties and work hard to promote regional peace and stability, the department said in a brief statement.

There was no indication of any link between the missile launch and Ri’s visit.

Ri was foreign minister until he was named a member of the politburo during the recent Workers’ Party congress.

(Additional reporting by Se Young Lee in Seoul, Tim Kelly in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Robert Birsel and James Dalgleish)

Iranian minister denies recent mid-range ballistic missile test

Iranian Defence Minister Dehghan delivers a speech as he attends 5th Moscow Conference on International Security in Moscow

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s minister of defence denied on Monday that the Revolutionary Guards had recently tested a medium-range ballistic missile but reiterated that Tehran had not stopped bolstering what it insists is a purely defensive arsenal.

Earlier, the Tasnim news agency quoted Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi as saying Iran had successfully tested a precision-guided missile two weeks ago with a range of 2,000 kms (1,240 miles).

The Islamic Republic has worked to improve the range and accuracy of its missiles over the past year, which it says will make them a more potent deterrent with conventional warheads against its enemy Israel.

“We haven’t test-fired a missile with the range media reported,” Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

The United States and some European powers have said other recent tests violate a United Nations resolution that prohibits Iran from firing any missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Iran says the missiles are not designed to carry nuclear warheads, which it does not possess.

Washington has imposed new sanctions on Tehran over recent tests, even after it lifted nuclear-related sanctions in January as Tehran implemented the nuclear deal it reached with world powers last year.

Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in March that missile development was key to the Islamic Republic’s future, in order to maintain its defensive power and resist threats from its enemies.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Writing by Sam Wilkin; editing by Richard Balmforth)

South Korea demands more sanctions on ‘serial offender’ North

By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles

GENEVA (Reuters) – South Korea’s foreign minister called on the U.N. Security Council to expand sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday to punish what he called an escalating and increasingly threatening nuclear program.

Yun Byung-se called North Korea a “serial offender” and denounced Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test and latest long-range missile launch, carried out in January and February.

North Korea’s Ambassador Se Pyong So said his country’s nuclear program was designed to ensure peace on the divided Korean peninsula, and warned that more sanctions would bring a “tougher reaction”.

Both men addressed the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament in Geneva hours before major powers were scheduled to vote at the U.N. Security Council across the Atlantic on a resolution to expand sanctions on North Korea.

The United States also condemned Pyongyang’s actions.

“The international community stands united in its firm opposition to the DPRK’s development and possession of nuclear weapons,” Christopher Buck, deputy U.S. disarmament ambassador, told the Geneva talks.

“We do not and will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.”

LANDMARK RESOLUTION

After nearly two months of bilateral negotiations, China last month agreed to support new measures in the Security Council to try and persuade its ally North Korea to abandon its atomic weapons program.

Pyongyang has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 because of its nuclear tests and multiple rocket launches.

“It’s no wonder that the Security Council will very soon put up a landmark resolution with the strongest ever non-military sanction measures in seven decades of U.N. history,” South Korea’s Yun said.

The credibility of the nuclear non-proliferation regime needed to be protected, he added.

“Even at this moment, Pyongyang is accelerating its nuclear weapons and missile capabilities from nuclear bombs and hydrogen bombs to ICBMs and SLBMs,” he said referring to intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

“We have heard Pyongyang officially state its intention not only to further develop its nuclear weapons and missiles but also to use them.”

Japan’s parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs, Masakazu Hamachi, said North Korea’s actions had undermined the security of Northeast Asia and the rest of the world.

North Korea’s envoy retorted that the nuclear program was “not directed to harm the fellow countryman but to protect peace on the Korean Peninsula and security in the region from the U.S. vicious nuclear war scenario.”

“The more sanctions will bring about tougher reaction,” So said.

(Reporting by Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay; writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Andrew Heavens and John Stonestreet)

China Showing Off Military Might

China is making a demonstration of its military might both through ocean maneuvers and a parade of new technology.

The first major flexing of China’s military muscle came during the incident of ships off the coast of Alaska during a visit by President Obama.  The ships entered US territorial waters for the first time, passing within 12 nautical miles of the Alaskan coast.

US military officials say the ships complied with international law despite their proximity to Alaska.

“They already had one of their icebreakers up in that area, and they weren’t that far away with an exercise, and they’ve already started their return transit,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert told Reuters.

Meanwhile, the military used the anniversary of the ending of World War II to display in a parade a missile that’s designed to take out an aircraft carrier.

The missile, called the Dongfeng DF-21D, is designed to enter space like an intercontinental ballistic missile but the warhead will detach and use radar to target a ship.

“The significance of that weapon is that its warhead, once it detaches from the launching vehicle, is able to slow its descent, turn on a radar seeker, and maneuver to engage a moving ship if it is in the radar “footprint” of the seeker,” Michael McDevitt, a retired United States rear admiral and analyst at CNA Strategic Studies, told the New York Times.

“This is unusual because normally ballistic, by definition, means that once fired, a weapon goes straight to where it was aimed. Heretofore, a ballistic missile with a conventional warhead would not be effective against a moving target because during the time of flight of the missile the target would have moved. The maneuvering warhead is Cold War technology, first introduced as I understand it with the Pershing II land-based missiles Reagan stationed in Europe.”

The missiles have a range of about 900 miles, meaning China could use them to keep American naval vessels out of the South China Sea in the event China attacks Taiwan.

South Korea Tests Missile Capable Of Attacking North

The first ballistic missile with range long enough to strike within North Korea is now part of the South Korean army’s arsenal.

The first long-range missile was test fired on Wednesday according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.

The missile was fired from a vehicle, indicating that the missile is part of a mobile missile system that could be taken anywhere in South Korea.  The weapon is part of a system being developed since a 2012 agreement with the United States to extend their weapon distance capability.  The South can now create weapons long enough to strike into North Korea but not able to threaten China or Japan.

South Korean media say the new missiles are called “Hyunmoo-2B” and have a range of 310 miles.

“The test demonstrated improved ballistic missile capability that can strike all parts of North Korea swiftly, and with precision, in the event of armed aggression or provocation,” a statement from the country’s president read.

North Korea has a large arsenal of missiles that can not only reach South Korea but also threaten Japan.  The country has also claimed a recent test-fire of missiles that can be launched from submarines.

Israel Strikes Syrian Missile Depot

Israeli warplanes struck a target near the Syrian port city of Latakia Thursday night according to senior Obama administration officials.

The target was a missile storage site. Middle eastern press outlets reported the explosions but the Israeli government has not confirmed they were responsible for the attack.

Israel had long said that they would take any step to stop Syria from providing weapons to Hezbollah or any other group designated as terrorists. The Israeli government has also said they would stop weapons that could be used to attack Israel from being taken into Lebanon.

Terrorist group Hezbollah has entered the Syrian civil war backing up the government forces of Bashir al-Assad. The attack is not the first time Israel has attacked weapons believed to be designated for Hezbollah. Israeli forces attacked a convoy in January transporting weapons from Syria to Lebanon.

North Korea Fires Missiles Over Weekend

North Korea conducted a missile test over the weekend in another attempt to show defiance to the world’s sanctions.

A short-range guided missile was fired into the water off the eastern coast Sunday and three short-range missiles were fired in a test on Saturday. South Korea called the acts “provocations” but noted that no North Korea troops were moving toward the border. Continue reading →